Astral Anne
by bugly42
Summary: Crossover with Stargate SG1, contains spoilers for SG1 Season 8 episode Threads. When Buffy leaves town at the end of Becoming, Part Two her life takes a different path. NOW COMPLETE!
1. Teaser

Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Stargate SG-1, I'm just borrowing them for a bit. I'll put them back, I promise.

A/N: This messes a bit with the timeline, being a response to the Anne the Waitress challenge on Twisting the Hellmouth with a twist, spoilers for SG-1 Season 8 episodes thru episode 18, Threads. I just had a thought about what if Buffy was waiting at The Astral Diner where Oma was working. Quotes are taken directly from the shooting script for Becoming Part II of Buffy, not the episode, so there may be errors I didn't catch. Anyways, here goes.

Teaser

Previously on Buffy: The Vampire Slayer

Scene of: Buffy and Joyce are arguing, after the revelation of her calling.

"I told you. I'm a vampire slayer."

"Well, I don't accept that!"

"Open your eyes, Mom! What do you think has been going on for the last two years? The fights, the weird occurrences – how many times have you washed blood from my clothes and you still haven't figured it out?"

"Well, it stops now."

"It doesn't stop. Do you think I chose to be like this? Do you know how lonely it is? How dangerous? I would love to be upstairs watching TV or gossiping about boys or god, even studying. But I have to save the world. Again."

"No. This is insane. You need help."

"I'm not crazy, Mom! What I need is for you to chill. I'll be back."

"I'm not letting you out of this house."

"You can't stop me."

Buffy tries to leave, but her mother grabs her arm. She flings the arm away, and when Joyce tries again Buffy pushes her hard against the wall, and turns to the door.

"You walk out of this house, don't even think about coming back."

Buffy pauses for a moment, then walks out the door.

Scene of: Buffy's room, as Joyce enters it the next morning. The window is open, curtains blowing in a slight breeze. Some of the drawers are open, others hanging barely in their slots. She looks around for a moment, and then her eyes fall on the bed, where a note lies. Picking it up, she can't help but begin to cry as she reads the words.

Scene of: Buffy, sitting on the bus, clearly unhappy, She looks out the window one last time as they leave the town she calls home and sees the sign:

NOW LEAVING SUNNYDALE

COME BACK SOON

Buffy sat back in her seat, sighing. In a way it was a relief to leave everything behind. Staying just wasn't an option. She couldn't face her friends again after what had happened. It was time to get away, time to have a normal life.

The bus would take her as far as LAX, and then from there, she didn't know. It didn't matter, as long as there were no vampires or demons for miles. After a while, she fell asleep, lulled into it by the mile after mile of nothingness.

She woke with a start as lightning shot across a storm-darkened sky. Rain was pouring down in sheets, buckets of sheets, even. They were on a stretch of twisty road that overlooked the ocean, and looking down from the window, she saw that there was only a thin, aluminum retaining wall between them and a hundred foot drop into the sea.

They say that when you die, your life flashes before your eyes. But that wasn't what happened as the bus hydroplaned into that thin metal line between life and death. All Buffy was thinking was, "Gee, this is what I get for trying to live my life."

End Teaser


	2. Act I

Act I

The clink of the metal bells hanging from the door handle against the glass brought the room into sharp contrast. It was bright, you couldn't make out what was beyond the shaded windows, but it seemed like daylight. Buffy stood in the entryway of a diner, with green booths, and dark wood accents. There was a sign reading "Please Be Seated" just in front of her, off to one side, as she blinked. With a sigh, she sat down at an empty booth.

A woman with dark hair in a blue and red waitress outfit comes to the table, and smiles. "What can I get you?"

Buffy looks at her, confused. "Where am I?"

"No place in particular, toots. It's just a construct where people come to take some downtime. Catch up on events, gossip about the goings on in the universe, you know."

"Is this hell?"

"Hell, no. If you need a name, you can call this place the Astral Diner. You want anything?"

Buffy sighed, shaking her head. "A coke, I guess."

The woman walked behind the counter, and a few minutes later came back with the soda. "You ok, kiddo?"

"Last thing I remember…I was on a bus. Leaving town. Because…Angel…"

"Had to be sent to hell in order to save the world. You made the front page, dearie. Good copy. Take a break. The world will keep turning without you."

"Front page?" Buffy looked puzzled. And the waitress walked over to the stack of newspapers, and grabs one, with the top headline being "Earth's Slayer Averts Apocalypse…Again."

"It's not bad, got you voted in here."

Buffy looked at the headline, then, taking a sip of her coke, she frowned.

"I don't understand. I'm dead, right?"

"Wrong. You've ascended to a higher plane of existence."

"And I'm here, why?"

"Because you deserve it, toots. That's why. You earned yourself a vacation that doesn't end."

"And my friends?"

"They'll live. You can peek in from time to time, but there are rules against interfering."

"Whatever." Buffy downed her coke, and stood up.

Xander Harris and Willow Rosenberg were walking down a deserted alley late at night, having taken it upon themselves to patrol in the absence of the Slayer. They'd almost gotten a vamp the other night. Of course, that was why Giles was at home with his arm in a sling, but it had been close. On a good note, it was summer, which meant longer days and more vamp-free hours.

"How do you think Buffy is?" Willow asked.

"Are you kidding? I'm betting lots of sun, beautiful women. Oh, and none of those guys," Xander replied, grabbing the stake from his belt as two vampires stepped out from behind a dumpster.

"Oh, goody, one for each of us!" Willow quipped

The two vamps looked at each other, then lunged, and the two Slayerettes stepped to either side, tripping the vamps.

"Ok, well, let's see if that new spell works," Willow said, pointing a finger at one of the vamps. "_Fuego!_"

A tiny spark jumped from her fingertip, creating a smoldering patch on one of the vampire's out-dated suits before going out.

"Apparently not," Xander said, plunging his stake into the vamp closest to him. "Score one for the Xander!"

The other vampire was starting to get up, looking annoyed. "That was a five-hundred-dollar suit, you know," he griped. "I'll just have to eat you for that."

"I think that's enough patrolling for tonight, don't you think?" Willow said, as she turned and started to run.

"Less talk, more running!" Xander replied, right on her heels as they headed back towards the main street.

As they disappeared into the distance, Buffy sighed. Oma had been right. Looking in on the past was not the way to start a fresh existence. But she worried about her friends. Seeing Xander and Willow taking up the slack didn't make her happy. There should be a Slayer for the Hellmouth. It was too dangerous without it. Who else would be able to take care of the burgeoning apocalypses?

"If I have a beer, will it actually get me drunk?" Buffy asked as she slumped back into one of the booths.

"How deep is the river if you cannot see the bottom?" Oma replied.

"I'll take that as a no." She paused, looking around the unusually quiet diner. "How do you locate someone you've never met?"

The waitress walked to the soda fountain, and got a coke, and returning to the table, she placed it in front of Buffy. "If you know what you want, you can find what you need."

Buffy got to her feet. "Look, you can quit the cryptic. I want to know where the Slayer after me is. You can either tell me that or we can find out how well ascended beings can handle having the crap beat out of them."

"She's perky, maybe we should hire her," commented the cook, from behind the pass-through.

Working at the diner kept her distracted for a while, but she managed to find herself checking in on Sunnydale, where the Slayerettes were doing their best to keep the vampire population in check. Oz probably had the edge, being a werewolf, but they really didn't have much luck. She kept wishing there was more she could do.

Instead, she focused on finding the current Slayer. She found out one of the diner regulars had some insight on how the line worked, and Kendra dying had activated a Slayer, but not her own more recent death. It had something to do with the line having already passed her by. It had been like talking to Giles, well, except for the fact that this particular expert wasn't English, and as for the human, she wasn't sure about that, either.

Finally, someone let slip something about "having faith in Boston" in regards to the Slayer, and she went Earth-side to check things out.

Buffy caught up with the new Slayer as she took out three vampires snacking on a bus of churchgoers. In the nude. The new girl had spunk, but no control. Buffy watched as the minister hugged the naked slayer in profuse thanks, and they both got dragged down to the station. She followed them, until the girl was placed alone in a conference room.

Buffy took a deep breath, and walked through the wall into the room, looking at the Slayer. Then she did something she'd never tried before, she made it so the new girl could see her.

"That was some stylish slayage," Buffy said, smiling wryly as the girl jumped.

The dark-haired Slayer looked her over, and Buffy realized she was in her diner uniform. Changing clothes wasn't really important anymore, since it only took a thought. But the Slayer was looking at her like she was…

"What kind of demon are you?"

"Uh, not. If I ever have to slay vampires without clothes, now I know how to do it. I'm Buffy, the Vampire Slayer."

"Faith."

"Of all the irritating fortune cookie…" Buffy grumbled.

Faith looked irritated, and, on a whim, she threw the box of Kleenex at Buffy, her eyes going wide as the box thumped to the floor without intercepting anything.

"Oh, right. You know how a new Slayer doesn't get Called unless the old Slayer dies, right? I'm the old Slayer."

"Get out of here," she said, coldly. "I don't know what you are or why you're here, but you can just go back to wherever you came from."

"Look, I'm sorry for bothering you…"

Faith interrupted her by standing up, the metal chair clattering to the floor, shouting "Just go to hell!"

Buffy stood there for a moment, surprised, then smiled. "Thanks, I think I will." With that, she disappeared.

Back at the Astral Diner, Buffy was getting frustrated.

"Frank, how come you never get my orders right?"

The lugubrious cook didn't answer, but Oma came over. "Let me see your ticket for this one." Before Buffy could object, she took the ticket out of her hands and read it. "Ok, burn one, wax it, drag it through the garden and pin a rose on it, Frank." She double-checked. "And wet frog-sticks in the alley."

Buffy looked at her co-worker in confusion. "You've got to be kidding me."

"Wish I was, kid, wish I was. Frank wants authenticity. You get used to it after a few hundred years of his little phases."

"Frog-sticks?"

"Hey, they're French."

End Act I


	3. Act II

Act II

"Consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, Frank," Buffy said as she pinned the ticket up. "I need an SOS for table three."

"You're kidding, right?"

"Chipped beef. Gross, but not kidding."

A grunt came from the cook as Buffy turned back to look over the diner. "Hey, who's the new guy?"

"Oh, he's one of Oma's pet projects. Oddly enough, he's from your world."

"Earth?"

"Yeah. But she's breaking the rules helping him. I'd keep clear," Frank said, as he put up the plate on the window.

Buffy grinned, taking the order over to the silent young lady at table three, and then turned to watch the new guy.

"Menus?" he asked, seeming more than a little out of place.

"We don't need them here. Just order what you'd like," Oma replied.

"OK, I'll have the truth, with a side order of clarity, please."

"The Replicator version of Sam was in your head trying to access the knowledge buried in your subconscious, but you gained control of her instead. She killed you to stop you. That's where I stepped in. How's that?"

"Pretty clear."

"Well, we aim to please. The customer comes first, you know!"

"So, I'm ascended again."

"Not exactly. Sort of a stop along the way. You have to make that choice for yourself."

"Waffles."

"Bacon on the side?"

"No, I remember this place."

"You should, it came from your mind," Oma stated.

Buffy blinked at that. She'd been working the diner for what seemed like a month now, and it looked the same to her.

"My grandfather brought me here after my parents' funeral. I had waffles."

"Waffles it is," Oma said, turning to walk away.

"Wait."

She stopped.

"How do I know it's really you this time? How do I know this isn't some trick Replicator Sam's playing to stop me from controlling her?"

"How deep is the river if you cannot see the bottom?"

An old guy by the counter turned and shouted at Oma, "Deeper than the coffee in my cup, I'll tell you that!"

"Coming!" Buffy called, picking up the coffee pitcher to fill up the empty mug as Oma went to place the order. On her way back, she paused to take a closer look at the new guy. He had to be thirty-something, kinda cute, in an older guy kind of way. "You know, she used that same line on me when I first got here."

"Really? What was your question?"

"If I could get drunk if I ordered a beer."

The man laughed, and Buffy smiled at him. Then, it was like he realized where he was, and started to stand, offering his hand. "I'm Daniel. Daniel Jackson."

"Anne," Buffy said, shaking his hand firmly. "Greetings from a fellow former earthling."

"You're from…Earth?"

"Duh. I said that."

"And you knew I was from Earth, how?"

"Your clothes."

"Excuse me?"

"This is your first time in the diner, you asked about menus, and you're wearing Earth clothes. You're obviously from Earth. If you were from anywhere else, the first questions would be totally different. And, sorry, but I got to give that guy a warm-up."

With that, Buffy gave her best insincere charming grin, and walked over to give the old guy in the corner his coffee. Besides, there was no reason to tell him everyone knew.

Later, she was taking her break, sitting in the kitchen talking to Frank.

"You sure you want to do this, kid? I know you got a thing for your mortal life and all…" he was saying.

"I don't need sleep and I'm still having nightmares about this. Daymares. Whatever. I need to see him."

"So you're going to go to the dimension you sent him to just to apologize?"

"That was the plan."

"You realize that they don't play by the same rules, right?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You can get in, but getting out may take more than you want to give."

"I have to do this," she said, her voice trembling a little as she felt the pain and agony of their final moments together swell through her. "I didn't just kill the man I loved, I sent him to eternal torment. Tell me I don't owe him a visit for that?"

"It's awful close to interfering. Maybe it's just that my instincts are against it."

"So I'm allowed to tutor those who take up the mantle of the Slayer, but I can't even apologize to the people whose lives I've ruined?" she stood, the chair clattering to the floor behind her in her suddenness. "I've had it up to here with your rules!"

"Kid…" Frank started to say, but the slamming of the back door cut him off. She was gone.

Buffy walked into the room, a little surprised at her surroundings. It looked just like the place where she had…killed Angel.

"Angel?" she called, walking through the mansion's hallways.

She rounded the final corner, and stood in shock, staring at the statue of Acathla. When she had last seen it, she had driven a sword through Angel into its heart, or thereabouts. Neither Angel nor the sword were anywhere in sight.

A whistling of air made her turn, too late, as the sword cut through her midsection, and she was thankful for the fact that she was currently incorporeal. But the man on the other end of the sword was a second surprise. Angel was standing, defensively, watching her as if she was a complete stranger.

"Angel?" she asked, her voice quivering.

"Not her, damn you!" he shouted, his knuckles turning white as he gripped the sword too tightly.

He lunged at her, and her slayer reflexes kicked in. With a thought, she created her own sword, and parried his blow, looking across the blades at him.

"It's me. Buffy. Don't you know me?"

"No matter whose face you wear, demon, I'd know you," he spat, backing from the blade lock and executing a vicious low cut that Buffy jumped over.

"God, what have I done to you?" she asked, as she held back his attacks, but she couldn't bring herself to take the offensive. She did it once, because she had to, to save the world. But the world wasn't at stake here. It wasn't right.

"There's no God here, only Hell."

At that, she dropped her sword, the weapon vanishing like a swirl of mist, tears streaming down her face. "I'm so sorry, Angel, I'm so sorry. Can you ever forgive me?"

"Why won't you let me be!" he screamed at her, lunging in viciously, continuing to attack. Buffy had a split second to make a decision, and she made it. She fled from the only man she ever loved.

End Act II


	4. Act III

Act III

Daniel sat staring at the half-empty coffee cup, swirling its contents around as he contemplated the newspaper Jim had given him. The bells on the door jangled, and he looked up to see the young waitress come in, looking haggard.

"Anne," he called as she walked past.

She turned, and he saw that her face was tear-stained. "What?" she said, absently, as her eyes scanned the table. "Oh, warm-up. Right. Be right back."

"No, wait. Sit," he said.

Buffy brushed a hand through her hair, regarding the man in front of her. Deciding he didn't mean anything by it, she slid into the booth opposite him, saying nothing.

"Hey, what's wrong?" he asked gently.

"Nothing. Everything."

"Oookay. Do you want to share?"

"Have you ever killed anyone?"

The question caught him by surprise, and, to buy time, he pulled off his glasses and polished them on his shirt. When he looked at her again, she was staring at him with a goofy grin on her face.

"What?" he asked.

"You look like Giles when you do that. Not in the British tweedy way, but in a younger, hot way. Oh my God, did I just say that?" she babbled.

"Yes, you did," Daniel replied. "Who's Giles?"

"He's my Wa-" she broke off, then recovered. "Giles is the librarian at my high school." Buffy hoped he hadn't caught her slip, but the look on her face told her he had.

She stood up. "I'll just go get you that warm-up." With that, she practically ran into the kitchen.

Instead of heading back to get Daniel more coffee, Buffy made the decision to go back to Boston. Heading into the warehouse district, she went looking for the new slayer, Faith.

She found the dark-haired slayer clearing out a vampire nest, and sat on a railing, watching. The girl was fierce in her style, anger coloring her every movement. There was something going on that made her go out to find a slaughter.

"Behind you!" Buffy shouted, seeing the vamp sneaking up on the slayer. Faith whirled, throwing her stake to dust the offending creature, then crouched, a fresh stake in her hand, looking around.

"I don't see any more, Faith," Buffy said, dropping down to the ground and cautiously approaching the other girl. "You ok?"

"Five by five," she replied, then turned. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Besides saving your hide?" Buffy snapped.

"I could have handled it."

Buffy shrugged. "Can we talk?"

"You can talk. Might even listen."

"I'm actually trying to help both of us."

"What do you care? You're dead."

"Slayers go fast. We live, we fight, sooner or later, we die. Usually sooner. A little over a year ago, there was this prophecy that said I was going to die. But you know what? I fought anyway. Guess what happened? My friends pulled me through it. I got a whole year more because of it. So when I say I want to help, I mean it."

The dark slayer didn't say anything as they both walked along the alleyways.

"I just have one more piece of advice before I get off my soapbox. Find something you care about, really care. And when you find it, hang on with everything you've got. We're fighters, but we need to know what we're fighting for."

Faith turned, looking at Buffy, from head to toe. "Guess we have one more thing in common than I thought." With that, she stepped up on a bus that had just pulled up, and disappeared back into the city.

Buffy walked back into the diner, and almost ran over Daniel. He was standing at the door, looking like he was about to go out. He turned to look at Oma, who he seemed to be arguing with.

"You're saying I'll be dead," he stated.

"Pretty much," Oma said, nodding.

"Ok. Ascend me."

"It doesn't mean you'll be able to help your friends. You know the rules."

"Yes, but once I'm ascended, I can choose to take human form again, just like last time."

"Technically, yes, but you can't take that paper with you. You won't have any of the knowledge that you've gained here. And good luck ever ascending again. I'M certainly not going to help you a third time!"

"So you're saying I can know Anubis is plotting to destroy all life in the galaxy and all I can do about it is stay here and contemplate my own enlightenment?"

"You can eat your waffles."

With a sigh, Daniel headed back to the table and sat down, looking over the plate. "No syrup!" he shouts to Oma.

Buffy walks over, grabbing a pitcher of syrup and putting it on the table. "The rules suck, I'll give you that," she commented.

Daniel looked up at her, smiling. "Anne."

"That'd be me."

"Look, I've got some things to think about."

"Who's the big bad?"

"What?"

"You were telling Oma that some idiot wants to destroy all life in the galaxy, remember?"

"You haven't heard?"

"I don't think the guys who ascended me thought it was important. Not that they've even bothered to drop by, send me a card, flowers, anything. I just saved the world a few times."

"Apparently, it's not our problem, either."

"You said you were here before, and you became human?"

"Uh, right. Oma helped me ascend when I was dying of radiation poisoning from a lab accident."

"So, I could go home?" Buffy asked, a hint of pain in her voice.

"Well, sort of. You won't remember anything."

"Like, here, I'm dead, now I'm glowy anything, or brain of swiss cheese anything?"

"Anything, anything. I woke up naked in the middle of a dirt field."

"Sounds fun."

"Not really."

End Act III


	5. Act IV

A/N: I know last note I said there were going to be two more parts before the epilogue. I lied. This is only going to have 4 acts, not 5. On the good side, that means you're seeing the end now, instead of having to wait who knows how long while I plug away.

Act IV

Daniel and Buffy continued to sit at the table, not looking at each other as the awkwardness of his last statement hangs in the air.

Buffy opened her mouth, speaking softly. "I'm worried about my friends. They're trying to fight my battles without me, and I don't want to see anyone else die because of me."

"In a war, people die. You can't save everyone."

"They're only involved because they met me."

Daniel gave a closed-lipped smile, and then raised his coffee cup, looking into it. "That's usually how it works. Whether you try to keep them out or tell the truth, if what you're working towards is a just goal, people will join you."

"You're all Giles-y when you say that."

"If you think you should go back, do it, Anne. You're the one who can make the right choices, just like your friends did."

"Thanks." Buffy rose to her feet, and walked over to the drink station, beginning a circuit around the diner with fresh coffee.

In the corner, an argument is going on between Jim and Oma, and everyone in the diner is working very hard to pretend they can't hear it. Daniel, on the other hand, is straining to catch the words, but can't quite make anything out. While he watches, Daniel pours heaps of sugar into his coffee absently. Finally, Oma walks off in a huff, and Daniel, picking up his coffee mug, moves over to Jim, smiling slightly.

"Hey," Daniel said.

The older man turned around, saying, "Hey, Daniel! How's it going?"

"Do we know each other? I feel like I know you," Daniel commented.

"Call me Jim. We ran into each other the last time you were ascended."

"Ah. Nice to meet you . . . again," Daniel said politely, offering his hand.

"Still haven't made up your mind, huh? Death – or everlasting enlightenment. I don't really see the choice myself."

"Of course I don't want to be dead – it's just that, uh . . ." Daniel pauses, sighing. "Listen, the reason I came over here was to ask you – why are you talking to me?"

Jim looks puzzled for a moment, then glanced around the diner, gesturing. "Oh, you mean because the other snobs won't even look at you? Well, I'm different, like Oma."

At that comment, Buffy came over, and slammed a cup of coffee in front of Jim. "Listen, creep, you aren't at all like Oma. You can't even decide whether you want to play by the rules!" she said, scowling at Jim. "Now drink your coffee and get out of here, before I decide to break a few of my own."

Jim ignores Buffy, looking at Daniel. "Did you read the latest headline?" he asked, handing over the paper.

Shooting another death glare at Jim, Buffy rounds the table, and, grabbing Daniel's arm, she leads him back to his table. "I don't know how you can stomach that guy. He reeks."

"I'm not sure I understand," Daniel said.

"What's to understand? He's, like, evil."

"I thought you had to be pure of heart to ascend."

"Don't ask me, I took the express route. But seriously, that guy is bad news, and he's playing with you," Buffy said, tension in her voice. "I just wish I knew what he was up to so I could stop him."

"What is it between Jim and Oma?"

Buffy shook her head. "Why don't you ask her?"

Buffy left the diner for a while to clear her head, wanting to get away from the wiggy feelings Jim gave her, Oma's escapism, and Daniel's curiosity. She had a lot to think about. She hadn't known she could go home if she wanted to. Buffy wondered what it would be like to forget everything, and whether she'd still be the same person after dying a second time. On the other hand, she knew her friends had relied on her, and she thought maybe she could be more help as a Slayer than some guardian angel with a non-involvement pact. In an odd fit of nostalgia, she decided to ghost around at the Bronze. To her surprise, the Dingoes were playing, and she lost herself in thought and the music, barely noticing Willow, Xander and Cordy up by the stage.

She also didn't notice when a loudly clothed man walked over to her until he spoke. "Slayer," the man, well, demon, said amicably.

"Give it a rest, Whistler, it's over," Buffy half-growled. "Besides, don't you have better things to do than talk to an invisible ghost girl?"

"Not invisible, sweetheart. Just outside the normal realm of existence," the demon replied, grinning. "Let's take a walk."

"The last time I listened to you, I ended up sending my boyfriend to hell," she snapped.

"Which, if you recall, wouldn't have happened if you hadn't helped him lose his soul."

"Whatever. Say what you have to say, and get out."

"We want you to take your old job back."

"We meaning . . ."

"The Powers."

"As I understand it, I can come back whenever I want."

"Not exactly. You could descend, like your pal Dr. Jackson, but you wouldn't be the Slayer anymore. We're offering the whole package."

"And the reason I would take you up on this is . . .? It's not like there's a great Slayer Retirement Package."

"You'll have backup. The other Slayer."

"What about Faith?" Buffy asked, going instantly on the defensive. "You assholes going to ruin her life, too?"

"We just want you back in action. Doing what you do best. No prophecies, no interference, just a ticket back to the good fight."

Buffy nodded at her friends up by the stage. "They don't need superpowers for that."

"All you have to do is say yes. Deal's open if you want it. Two Slayers, working side by side against the darkness."

"What do you get out of it?"

"Peace of mind." With that cryptic comment, the balance demon strode off.

Unable to bring herself to return to the diner with the news, Buffy instead went to visit Faith, this time finding the dark Slayer in one of Boston's cemeteries.

"What do you want this time?" Faith asked, annoyed.

"The Powers offered me my job back. To be a Slayer again."

"That mean I get to put up my stake?"

"You wish. No way to get all unchosen. I would have found it if there was."

"Then why you bothering me?"

"I suppose I thought, maybe, we could, y'know, hang, if I decided to come back."

"You and me against the world? Like the sound of that, yo."

"I'd have to stay on the hellmouth," Buffy said, remembering her responsibility.

"Maybe I'll end up in your neck of the woods someday. Better than talking to a dead girl."

"I may be dead, but I saved your ass that one time!"

"I could have gotten him!"

The two slayers continued ribbing each other for a while, then, as the vampire Faith was waiting to rise fell to dust, Buffy decided it was time to head back. She ought to at least say goodbye to her friends on this plane of existence.

When Buffy finally returned to the diner, she was surprised to find Oma missing.

"Hey, Frank, where's the old lady?" she asked.

"She got herself a new job," the cook replied.

"What?" Buffy said, intelligently.

"I think what he's trying to tell you is that Oma finally did what she should have done a long time ago. She's taking care of her mistakes," Daniel said, frowning slightly.

"Creepy guy?" Buffy asked.

"Locked in combat for eternity," the archaeologist said, rather glumly.

"That sucks," Buffy said. "I . . . was coming to say goodbye."

"Goodbye?" Daniel replied, confused.

"I'm going home. It was a mistake to even leave."

"I understand what you mean, Anne. I was going to return myself. I can do more on Earth than I ever could from here."

Buffy held out her hand, and shook Daniel's firmly. "Even if I never remember a thing that happened here, I'm still glad I met you, Dr. Jackson."

Daniel looked at her, and then down. "If you do remember, maybe you could do me this. When you have a chance when things are going right, when you win this good fight of yours, get out. Find a real life before it eats you alive."

"I'll do what I can."

"You two heroes gonna keep talking?" Frank interrupted. "Get out of here. Go save the world."

End Act IV


	6. Epilogue

Epilogue

When Buffy rang the doorbell to 1630 Revello Drive, she couldn't help but be relieved. Maybe the nightmares of slayerhood weren't over, but she could do something about it now. She needed to get into research mode to find a way to free Angel, and maybe get in contact with her sister slayer. Above all, she had friends who were waiting for her to come back.

The door finally opened, and Buffy flung herself into her mother's arms. "Mom!"

"Buffy. It's you! What happened to you?"

Joyce's embrace was everything she thought it would be, though Buffy thought there was something wrong.

"I'm never leaving you again, Mom," she said, burying her head in her mother's chest, until Joyce pushed her away.

"Buffy Anne Summers, what happened to your clothes!"

Buffy looked down, a blush rising as she realized what was missing. "Ooops."

The End.

A/N: Finally, we reach the end of Astral Anne. I'm really glad to be able to close the door on this chapter of my life. I do have plans for a sequel of sorts, but I have some other stories I need more time with before we go on to the next step. I am, however, asking you for feedback on what you liked, hated, or whatever on this story. One of the biggest decisions I'm facing is whether the script-like writing style this story ended up being should continue into the later chapters (episodes?) of this series or if novel-style would be better. Feedback, as always, is what keeps me going.

Thanks a Million,

Riversong


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